My 3rd grade students were struggling to connect many of the core concepts from the curriculum. By using an Apple Pencil and the screen share feature, we stumbled onto a character called the "Evil Alien Penguin" that would constantly be trying to defeat the class, comic-book style.
The students were suddenly engaged in all topics. They created superhero alter-egos for themselves. They had to chase the penguin around the globe, and then through time (visiting Ancient Greece, Egypt, Rome, etc). The penguin would come up with different adaptations to each climate or would travel to Ancient China so he could use fireworks as a weapon.
The session would detail how to guide a class to creating its own story, how to use basic functions of a tablet to create characters, and how to incorporate backdrops relevant to each subject and/or content section.
One additional area of focus will be allowing the students to answer questions as their "avatars." I found this to be extremely valuable in math especially, as students were much more willing to take risks and guesses and work their way through a series of unknown steps. They were able to separate their social fears because the burden of public "failure" was put on the shoulders of their character, not on them. One student went from zero participation to full participation, as long as the picture of his laser-eyed bear was drawn onto the PowerPoint slide.
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